Chapter one
1416 Words
The prison gates opened with a metallic groan. Aurora Vale stood there, motionless.
For seven years she had dreamed about this moment. Freedom.
But now it's finally here, she couldn't get herself to move. The world felt foreign, like it belonged to another, a younger woman she supposed. A happier woman and not the broken stranger she had become.
Her fingers tightened around the small paper bag a guard had shoved into her hands moments earlier. Everything she owned in the world fit inside it.
A faded photograph, a silver necklace with a broken clasp, and the memories she desperately wished she could instantly forget.
The memory of the nurse carrying her baby out of the room while Aurora screamed and begged them not to take her. It's been seven years since she smelled anything beyond concrete walls, disinfectant, and despair.
She instantly lowered her gaze to the faded photograph, and a little girl smiled back at her. The silver eyes sparked brightly beneath the sunlight, and dark curls framed a small face. The sight stole Aurora's breath.
“Lyla…” the name left her lips like a whisper. Tears burned behind her eyes.. A wound that had never healed.
Lyla was now six years old. She has missed every birthday, every scraped knee, her first words, her laughter.
This place had stolen seven years from her, but the most cruel thing it did was steal her motherhood.
She brushed over Lyla's face… “I'll find you, no matter what,” she whispered.
A loud horn suddenly shattered the silence. Aurora flinched. Her head immediately snapped up and her blood turned cold.
The road outside the prison was packed. Hundreds of people crowded behind the metal barriers. They were filled with reporters, pack members, protesters, and cameras.
There were signs raised high above angry heads…
MURDERER!!
JUSTICE FOR RONAN!!
SHE SHOULD HAVE DIED IN PRISON.
Aurora's stomach immediately dropped, and her pulse began hammering against her ribs.
No… No, no, no… she had known people hated her, but she hadn't expected this much. The moment her feet crossed the prison gates, the crowd exploded.
“There she is!”
“Monster!”
The white lights blinded her, and questions erupted from every direction. “Aurora! Did you kill Ronan Ashford?”, “Why were you released?”, “Where’s your daughter?”. The noise swallowed her whole, and she staggered backwards. Her breathing became unsteady and shallow. She could feel her heart pounding beneath her chest. There were just too many voices, eyes, and hatred. Seven years in prison had taught her how quickly crowds could become dangerous, and this crowd wanted blood.
Something hit her shoulder very hard, and suddenly a rock followed. It struck her head and the instant pain exploded across her skin.
The crowd cheered, as if a lottery was being won. Aurora lifted her trembling fingers to her forehead and when she pulled them away, they came back stained red. The sight of it made her dizzy and the sudden memory flashed violently through her mind.
Ronan was lying motionless, covered in so much blood. His lifeless eyes stared at nothing. Her screams and the scent of death. Aurora kept her eyes shut and her body began shaking. Not again. The nightmare had haunted her for seven years every night, every single night. Another object flew towards her, another spat on her face, and one screamed that Ste should have been executed. Aurora wrapped her arms around herself instinctively, making her smaller while she protected herself just like she had done countless times in prison. Suddenly it became quiet, not completely, but enough that the crowd's screams died instantly.
A powerful Alpha scent dashed into the area. It was dominant, ancient, and even terrifying still. The pressure rolled across the crowd like a tidal wave. Every wolf lowered their head instinctively and fear spread through the air. Aurora slowly opened her eyes and glanced at the Black SUV that had stopped beside the road. The vehicle looked expensive enough to buy a mansion, it's tinted windows reflected the gray afternoon sky. The door opened and a polished black shoe touched the pavement, the other leg followed and a man stepped out. At over six-feet talk, with broad shoulders and a powerful aura. He towered above almost everyone around him. His black suit fitting his muscular frame perfectly, power radiated from him like a storm.
Aurora's heart nearly stopped at the sight of him, Kael Blackthorne. The future king Alpha, Ronan's best friend.
What was he doing here? Aurora thought to herself. It could only be for one reason, her. The man who hated her more than anything, “what could he possibly want from her?”.
His grey eyes instantly locked onto hers, she could see the steel in them. Seven years handy softened him; instead, he looked far more dangerous.
He started walking towards her, the crowd parting instantly for him. No one dared challenge him. His steps were calculated and precise, like a predator about to feast on its prey.
Aurora's instincts told her to run, “if only I could become invincible”, The thought lingered in her head. Kael stopped directly in front of her, his gaze dropped to the blood running down her forehead.
“You look terrible”, he said, with no emotion crossing his face. Aurora swallowed hard, her stomach churned. His voice was deeper than she had remembered.
“I could say the same thing about you.” she fired back. A flicker of surprise settled around his face. “How could she speak to a future Alpha king like that? Truly, she has no fear in her.” One of the comments came from the crowd, alongside other whispers.
“You've spent seven years in prison, and somehow you're still stubborn,” he said quietly.
Aurora swallowed hard. “You didn't come here to compliment me”.
“No”, he said almost immediately, “I came to make you an offer.”
Her stomach twisted. An offer from Kael Blackthorne was never something good. “What kind of offer?”
Instead of answering, Kael reached into his suit jacket, Aurora tensed on the other hand, he brought out a photograph, and held it out to her. Aurora reluctantly took it, the moment she looked down, the world stopped.
A little girl sat beneath an oak tree, she had dark curls and silver eyes complimenting her features, with the brightest smile Aurora had ever seen. It was Lyla, she looked so much older, much more beautiful, and most importantly, she was alive.
A sob of relief escaped Aurora's lips. “She's alive”, the thought lingered in her head. “My daughter…” tears streamed freely down her cheeks. For seven years she had dreamed about seeing her child, now she finally had a recent picture, proof that Lyla existed beyond memories and imagination.
Kael watched her silently, then he delivered the blow. “She lives in my estate”. Aurora looked up too quickly, “What?”
Kael's expression remained unreadable. “I've been raising her”. Her head spun. For a moment, she thought she had misheard, then the meaning settled in. Before she could stop herself–her hand moved.
SMACK.
The sound echoed across the road, and the entire crowd froze. Aurora froze too. She had slapped Kael Blackthorne, the most feared Alpha.
The crowd was terrified, as though expecting him to slap her back; instead, he let out a laugh, it was low, dangerous.
“You still have fire in you”. Aurora's chest rose and fell rapidly. “I hate you”. Something flickered in his eyes, and then it vanished almost immediately. “So I've noticed”, he said.
“You want to see your daughter?” Aurora's heart ached. “Yes, more than anything”. The answer came instantly.
“Then marry me,” he said with a stern look.
The words stung her like a bee. “What?” Aurora stared at him in disbelief, and his gaze remained fixed on hers. “Become my wife, and you get to see her.”
The crowd erupted in shock, but Aurora was in a different world, she could barely hear them.
She had the horrible feeling that freedom had never really begun because her world had just changed again.
- Writer
